| Author | Message | ||
     Hooper |
I saw a heavily-laden black (faster) Uly rolling down the main shopping drag in Santa Cruz, CA back on Saturday, March 29 around lunchtime. You were two-up, with big, non-H&B sidebags, and what looked like camping gear on the back. My girlfriend and I had just parked our rental Electra Glide by the curb. I see so few Ulys that it really surprised me, and made me wish I was riding one on my Big Sur trip that weekend. | ||
| Ulyganfreedom |
Yep, that was me and my wife... We had just come from big Sur on our first big trip. We left our Sleepy little town of Ashland,Oregon the previous Sunday and hucked ourselves down I-5 to avoid the rain, went a bit south of Big Sur.... drove that road(CA HWY 1) a ton.. then we drove up the coastline to oregon during the week after the sighting. Awesome 12-day trip that left my wife (who is very new to motorcycles) wanting to go on more rides. the sidebags are Caribou. They didn't quite hold enough for the two of us with all of our stuff and camping gear, so I packed a drybag and lashed it onto the upright triple-tail. It worked out ok, except when we wanted to go walk around in town and we had to take it off and carry it around with us. Favorite road was HWY 1 north of San Francisco up to Fort Bragg. Lots of twisties, with accessible beaches & shorelines and small quiant towns. Next trip? the Oregon and Washington coastline. I've been a bit grumpy since getting back with the realization I've got to go back to work. Oh, well... Gives me time to plan another trip! Happy riding, Tom (Ulyganfreedom)  Where are you from? | ||
| Hooper |
Yo Tom... My girlfriend thinks it's amazing that I saw one rider for 3 seconds, 3000 miles away from home, placed one notice on the Internet, and heard back within minutes from that person. We rented a Harley in San Francisco (Dubbelju Rentals) that Saturday morning and rode down Route 1, stayed overnight at Deetjens Big Sur Inn, went down to San Simeon (didn't take the tour - didn't have time), back to Deetjens, then back to SF on Monday. WAYYYY too short - I felt the same way about getting back to work. My girlfriend is VERY new to riding - had only been on my Uly and my Harley once apiece, and nothing nearly as curvy and windy as Route 1. But, with some armored rental gear, she absolutely loved it and wants to do more. The Harley was okay - lots of luggage space for 3 days and a nice backrest, which I'd never used before - but it sometimes lumbered through those uphill curves and dragged pieces on the sharpest ones. Probably kept me safer, considering my novice passenger. I wasn't used to the extra "weight", either (I'm going to get it for that one!). I rented a BMW R1200RT from the same SF place last year and took Route 1 north up to Fort Bragg, east through the mountains, then south through wine country - what a blast. I found Route 1 north of SF to be more challenging - many more switchbacks - but also less dangerous...there were so many rockslides in Big Sur. Two softball-sized stones rolled RIGHT UNDER the bike between the two wheels as we sped along, hitting the kickstand on the way by. I about crapped myself, especially after clobbering a deer just back in February on my Uly (which is back up and running - I was only lightly injured). I live in the Washington, DC area, in Silver Spring, MD - looking forward to making the entire Pacific Coast ride sometime. Any issues with the bike on your trip? How do you mount your RADAR detector? I have a Techmount with velcro, which worked for awhile, but after one really cold day, the thing just stopped detecting RADAR. Won't work in my car, either. See you on the road! Neil  (Message edited by hooper on April 09, 2008) | ||
| Ulyganfreedom |
Hey There, Glad you had a good trip. It is an interesting feat to introduce motorcycling to newbies.... and it is really nice when they get it and want to go out more. I'm afraid you may have spoiled your "weight" with her riding on the back of that cushie hog. I hope she can appreciate the thrill of he Uly tat replaces the cushness of the HD. Happy riding... I get to do maintenance for awhile now. Tom |
